Online addiction said not that common

Experts believe that computer addiction does happen, if rarely. Robert LaRose, a professor of telecommunications at Michigan State University, has studied the phenomenon among students, and estimates that it happens to a fraction of a percent of users — about the same rate as gambling addiction.

"For the people who can't catch themselves for some reason, there's the possibility of a downward spiral," he said.

In South Korea, a hardcore video-gaming culture was blamed last year for at least four deaths. Three men died after or during gaming bouts, one as long as 20 days. A four-month-old baby suffocated while its parents were out playing games.

In cases like that, game addiction is probably not the only factor, said Cynthia Moreno Tuohy, executive director of NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals. She said mental illness could play into it, for instance.

Looking at underlying causes is also useful in treating milder forms of obsessive computer use, in Moreno Tuohy's opinion.

"If you're not feeling connected at home, at work, with your parents, with your loved ones, or with your family, then you're going to look for it somewhere else," she said. "The human being is made to need other people."

If parents find their kids are spending too much time online or with video games, they should ask themselves if they're providing an alternative, she added.

"Different research has pointed out that most kids would rather spend time with a positive, nonjudgmental adult than with a machine, a toy or a TV, or even their peers," Moreno Tuohy said.

Psychologist Kimberly Young estimates that 5 percent to 10 percent to Internet users have compulsive bouts. Young has provided counseling over the phone and online from her Center for Online Addiction in Bradford, Pa., since 1997.

Compulsive users may not be addicted in a stringent sense, but to Young that's an academic distinction — they have a problem and may need outside help, which the mental health profession is in poor position to provide.

"So many people come to me after going to three or four other psychologists who didn't get it, and just told them to turn off the computer," Young said. "That's like telling an alcoholic to stop drinking."

To Young, the skepticism surrounding Internet addiction is typical of new diagnoses. She pointed out that it took decades for gambling addiction to enter the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the psychiatric profession's bible.

For Internet addiction to get there, more research needs to be done to differentiate it from other compulsive patterns, she said.

"It's so new," Young said. "I mean, you're only talking about something that's a decade old."

But that's forever in Internet time.

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